When users don't control the program, the program controls the users. The developer controls the program, and through it controls the users. This nonfree or “proprietary” program is therefore an instrument of unjust power.

I think the only crusade linux folks should engage in is pursuit of the best software (functionality & reliability). I favour Oracle Java as the Mint default because it is the best.

äxl wrote:I guess I can remove whatever I want because I still have Gnome and Cinnamon installed (although not using them).Depends on what is more important for you, craigevil. "Half of Gnome" or an insecure OpenJDK. From stability and performance point of view I can't notice a difference between Oracle and Open.

Openjdk6 is not insecure if it was it would not be in the Debian repos. Just like sun-java-6 is still in the Stable Debian repo because it is patched. And Gnome is a steaming pile of manure I would never install it.

As for the person complaining that Oracle's Java is not in the Mint/LMDE repos, Oracle's license does not permit redistribution. If you want Oracle's java you must go to their website and download it. Even the almighty Ubuntu had to remove it from their repos.

craigevil wrote:As for the person complaining that Oracle's Java is not in the Mint/LMDE repos, Oracle's license does not permit redistribution. If you want Oracle's java you must go to their website and download it. Even the almighty Ubuntu had to remove it from their repos.

I think that was me. It's fair enough if Oracle's license prevents it. Does this extend to not making it an option in the Software Manager? Or at least having a downloadable installer that makes you tick the license agreement before it installs, like Windows does? I do not understand why Windows manages Oracle Java installation and updates seemlessly but Ubuntu/Mint does not.

If I could add, though, the `update-alternatives --config javac` probably isn't really needed. As javac is the java compiler -- part of the Sun/oracle or the Open -jdk -- isn't at all related to any of the security vulnerabilities, because these affect the JRE -- Java Runtime Environment.

With 7u10 [or higher], you need to edit /usr/share/java-package/oracle-j2re.sh (and/or oracle-j2sdk.sh, if you have the jdk).

The scripts are hard-coded to deal with a single-digit update number. Following the other examples, we'll... hard-code them to two digits. :-/ Should be future-proof, anyway. (Edit: ah, this resurrects #597294 from 2010, and is fixed in experimental.)

Insert a second [0-9], for both 32-bit and 64-bit cases, and change the ${archive_name} slice to 6:2(in the filename, startIndex:length, so jre-7u10).